Tuesday morning fodder:

XAVC-I

Preview Results with XAVC-I from Canon Camera

OldSmoke, I take it then that VP still has issues reading XAVC-L. My problem is that any H264 compression is laggy on my steam engine including XAVC-I so I need an Mpeg 2 codec preferably transcoded from within Vegas. Maybe Catalyst Browse  can o/p an mpeg2 option.

Thanks

Martin, evenXAVC-S is tough to edit, especially 4K. What's your system like?

Have you tried Catalyst Browse? I jot at my system and can't confirm what other formats are offered but Indo remember seeing XDCAM too.

Oldsmoke, just downloaded Catalyste Browse and some sample x70 MXF footage. It converts it nicely to XDCAM (mpeg2 50mb/s 422 mxf) which previews nice and smooth in vp on my machine. So looks like a good workflow. Do you think I'll loose much in that conversion?

How about try right click on the X70 XAVC clips, then Create Proxy Media. By doing this, you are previewing the media using the proxy, but on the final rendering process, Vegas will automatically using XAVC source.

Oldsmoke, just downloaded Catalyste Browse and some sample x70 MXF footage. It converts it nicely to XDCAM (mpeg2 50mb/s 422 mxf) which previews nice and smooth in vp on my machine. So looks like a good workflow. Do you think I'll loose much in that conversion?

You would have to test by putting the original and transcoded file on the timeline and check the difference.

How about try right click on the X70 XAVC clips, then Create Proxy Media. By doing this, you are previewing the media using the proxy, but on the final rendering process, Vegas will automatically using XAVC source.

Proxy workflow is only good for cutting but not for color correction.

The proxy workflow seems to switch from using the proxy when playing the t/l and the original when paused. I can live with that. I think this proxy workflow will be good for the X70 XAVC-L footage on my low powered hardware. Anyone else using the proxy workflow, any gotchas I ought to know about?

Also with the 1” sensor focus will be more challenging, anyone had experience of the auto focus on this camera, I use AF a lot.

I shoot weddings with the Sony FDR-AX100 which has the same cameras head as the PXW-X70. With the 1" sensor you will not be able to use auto focus in a run & gun situation. I have tried it and the footage was unacceptable.

Reason being the 1" sensor and lens on these camcorder are so sharp and clear that when it goes out of focus it looks really bad.

I have owned many Sony camcorders through the years and they all go out of focus in auto mode to some degree when swinging the camera from point A to B but the smaller senior camcorders are much more forgiving and the footage was usable in most cases. Not so with the 1" sensor.

My routine shooting a wedding entrance with this camcorder is to shoot handheld using a short monopod. I wear a wide belt with a pocket that excepts the monopod this gives me stability and takes some of the weight off. This wide belt is separate from my dress belt.

On my camcorder I turn off auto focus keep the camera on wide and set the focus ring to infinity. In the edit I can zoom in 20 or 30% with out much loss. If I'm shooting a speech or cake cutting then I may zoom and focus up but not so when there's action like an entrance or dancing.

Jerry K

...I take it then that VP still has issues reading XAVC-L...

I'm afraid so. See here and here.

...Anyone else using the proxy workflow, any gotchas I ought to know about?

You should read section 9 of this and this thread that it links to. In particular Altarvic wrote some free scripts that might improve your workflow.

Nick, thanks for the info. Very helpful as always.

Nick. I've taken your AF comments on board so much so that I've decided not to go with the x70. Getting the shot and in focus is more important to me than shallow dof and low noise. Thanks for your input.

Oops those last remarks were for JerryK

Martin E. What camcorder may you be looking at next?

The Sony FDR-AX100 or PXW-X70 are great camcorders. I feel they should not be over looked just because of critical auto focus do to the 1" sensor.

Maybe someone else could post their experience shooting with these newer camcorders under run & gun conditions so we can get a different point of view and see how they handle focus.

By the way Sony firmware updates through the years has improved auto focus.

My FDR-AX100 is do for a new update and hope it will improve auto focus even more.

Jerry K

I have done plenty of figure skating events with my AX100 and feel that the auto focus is as good as on the HXR-NX3 as well as the new HXR-NX5R which both have excellent auto focus. I use the bigger cameras for important events that require multicam setups. It does focus fast but can loose focus when lighting conditions aren't very good or there is too little contrast.

I own X70 too, and the auto-focus works excellent. My field is run & gun situations.

Also, with added Peaking function, manual focus is easier to do.

Finally decided to go with the Canon XF200 for various reasons. In the end the only real advantage for the X70 was the big sensor for good low light performance and shallower DOF. I’m not an arty farty/photographer type shooter. Getting the shot and in focus and editing quickly are more important to me in story telling mode than beauty shots. Having said that the small sensor on my XF100 does a great job in all but very low light and even then Neat Video makes it quite acceptable. The XF200 has a lot of pros for me as follows:

20 x Canon zoom lens with a stable shot even hand held at the telephoto end.

3 rings. This is a big one. So flexible, snap zooms, manual focus and iris all in the same natural place.

Good viewfinder and OLED screen (lots of pixels for my old eyes)

Lots of configurable buttons.

MPEG2 Codec 50mb/s (another big one) edits very smoothly on my old i5 laptop. I would have to transcode the X70 footage or use a proxy workflow, really don’t want to do that.

Option of 1080p 60fps AVCHD at 35mb/s to SD card (simultaneously with the MXF I think)

I already have CF cards and batteries

So the big clinchers are 20 x zoom, 3 rings, lots of buttons and easily editable codecs. The XF200 is basically a smaller and more manageable XF305 with one rather than three sensors.

Thanks for all the help and I’ll let you know how I get on with it.

...but the single 1/3” sensor can only do so much

Remember your earlier statement? You are back in the same boat with the XF200.

Well yes and no. Did some low light tests in the lounge tonight and clearly Canon have done something with the noise. It's much reduced. I had it wired up to my monitor on hdmi and 9db was good and even 12db was usable. The grain seems finer and less noticeable. It's a big improvement on the xf100. 20 x zoom and stab is fabulous. Only gripe so far is the af/mf and auto iris switches are fiddly, buttons would have been better. As someone once said "there's nothing perfect made".

I found this on YouTube.

Low light test between the PXW-X70, XF200, XA20 & PMW-200. I find it very difficult judging which camera is better from this video.

At the end of the video this guy gives his opinion.

Jerry K.

The only thing I would put in the XF200 pro list is the 3 ring lens, something that many may miss, I have learned to work around it.

If the OP doesn't need the SDI out or 4K, the HXR-NX100 would be a good camera too. I personally would not go back to anything smaller then a 1" chip unless it's a 3-chip camera.

without the need for 4k i haven't seen a camera i would swap my ex1r for. true, you can get some really gorgeous shots from dslr's with the right glass, but as far as being useful ergonomically, or for 'serious' audio, nothing comes close to the, what? 10 year old, ex1...

without the need for 4k i haven't seen a camera i would swap my ex1r for. true, you can get some really gorgeous shots from dslr's with the right glass, but as far as being useful ergonomically, or for 'serious' audio, nothing comes close to the, what? 10 year old, ex1...

I'm going off at a big of a tangent here but it's descendent (skipping a generation or 2), the PXW-Z100, has been now around for ages too but is still the camera I want most for wide angle underwater "swim'n'gun" video, ahead of all these fancy REDs etc.. The specs and ergonomics are great and the file sizes are sensible.